2013 – 11 states, 2 provinces & more memories than we can count

The end of 2013 marks our first full calendar year on the road. We started traveling in June of 2012, and while I did write a round-up post of our first year on the road last June, I thought another quick overview of this past year was in order. I’ve organized the months into three sections: where, notable things, and people we met. I’ve also included one photo of the airstream from each month. After the photo are links to all the blog posts from that month in case you want to see more.

Happy New Year’s everyone!

JanuaryWhere: We spent all of January in the southern California desert. Three weeks in Anza Borrego, and then one week near Yuma.Notable things: We boondocked all month and spent zero dollars on camping fees!People we met: Kelly & Dave, Leigh & Brian, Cassie & Kris

February:Where: We spent the entire month in Arizona beginning with more boondocking in the cool little town of Ajo, and then two different public parks in Tucson before heading up to Phoenix at the very end of the month.Notable things: It snowed on us in Tucson!People we met: The MaliMish crew (Dan, Marlene, Ava, Mila & Luka), Jenny & Matt, Ingrid & Al.

March: Where: Another month in Arizona. First at two regional parks in Phoenix, and then some boondocking in Sedona. At the very end of the month we moved north into Utah and spent a few nights on the shores of Lake Powell.Notable things: Phoenix surprised us. Far more than a sprawling city filled with retirees, we fell in love with the mountains, excellent regional parks, and lush desert foliage.People we met: Jenny & Matt (again)

AprilWhere: Every bit of April was spent in Utah. First 10 days in Zion N.P. and the remainder of the month in Moab.Notable things: Utah is incredible. That is all.People we met: Pam & John,Nina & Paul, Jodi, Eric, Zuri & Seda

MayWhere: The first week of May was spent in southeast Utah, and then we moved into Colorado for a few weeks of boondocking near Durango before heading up to Ouray for a week.Notable things: We drove up the famed Million Dollar Highway with the Airstream. It crossed two passes over 10,000 feet and featured numerous curves and steep drop offs with no guardrails- we LOVED it!People met: Ann, Dave & Wynn, Laura & John

JuneWhere: We spent the entire month in Colorado. A week in Montrose, a week in Almont, a week in Crested Butte, and a week in SalidaNotable things: Crested Butte was a our favorite town of the month. Next year we hope to return when more wildflowers are blooming.People we met: Craig & Lauren, Jill and bunch of other folks in Crested Butte who came and camped in our meadow with us.

JulyWhere: We started off the month in Colorado spending a week in Leadville, a week on Dillon Lake, a week at Grand Lake and a week in Loveland. The last week of July we drove northeast to South Dakota and spent a week in the Black Hills.Notable things: Nearly 3 months in Colorado was not enough. There are still many places we want to visit, as well as places we want to re-visit. We have already decided to spend another few months in Colorado next summer.People we met:Lisa & Hans, Michele & Mark

AugustWhere: August was a month of many states and even a few Canadian provinces. At the beginning of the month we finished up our week in Custer, SD and then began the long drive west to Washington. Along the way we traveled through Wyoming, spent a week in Missoula, MT, drove through Idaho and arrived in Washington the second week of August. We then spent the next two weeks with Leigh & Brian at their property in eastern Washington. At the very end of the month we were joined by six other Airstreaming couples/families and we caravanned into Canada for a week making 3 stops in British Columbia & Alberta finally meeting up with two other Airstreams in Banff.Notable things: We also participated in our first Airstream Caravan and took the Airstream on its first international trip.People we met:Lisa & Hans (again), Leigh & Brian (again), the MaliMish crew (again), The Works Family (Jessa, Josh & Jack), Laura & Kevin, Tiffany & Deke, Laura & John (again), Ann, Dave & Wynn (again), Kyle, Nathan, Renee & Family

September: Where: The first week of the month was spent in Glacier National Park. From there we headed to Oregon and spent a week at a state park near Hood River, two weeks boondocking in Bend, and a quick over night near Crater Lake.Notable Things: Our love of Oregon was confirmed with our return visit. Both Hood River and Bend are now high on our list of favorite towns.People we met: Tim (or Van-tramp as Leigh calls him), Lisa & Hans (again), Maria & Brian

October Where: In October we moved back to California. This time we spent the month on the Eastern side of the state with one week near Eagle Lake, one week near Mammoth Lakes, two weeks in Bishop, and one week in Lone Pine. It was almost a free month, with only $30 spent at the $5/night BLM campground in Lone Pine.Notable things: The Eastern Sierra Mtns. of California are pretty spectacular and Hwy 395 is an amazing route that we hope to travel again. It also snowed on us again and we survived two nights of 11-degrees temperatures.People we met:Jennifer & Deas, Nina & Paul (again), Nikki & Jason

NovemberWhere: The month started withanother week in Lone Pine at the BLM campground. We then drove over to Lake Mead and stayed for the rest of the month.Notable things: We spent Thanksgiving with a large group of friends old & new at Brian’s mom’s house. It was nice to spend the holiday with our new traveling family. We also spent a few days with the filmmaker Eric Barker who is making a documentary about Airstreams. The film probably won’t be out until at the least the summer, but we’re excited to see how it turns out.People we met: Leigh & Brian (again), Kelly & Dave (again), Joan & Steve, Trisha & Dan, Eric the filmmaker

Where: For the first time ever we spent the entire month in one place. And it was an RV park! For all of December we called the Mission Bay RV Park in San Diego home.Notable Things: Tim’s mom came to visit us for Christmas which made it feel like an actual holiday and not just another day for us. We loved all the time we spent on the beach in San Diego, but were happy to leave the traffic and people of the city behind.People we met: Lisa & Hans (again), Kelly & Mike

3 comments

Great post Amanda. Loved those shots of Crested Butte and Lone Rock…..a couple of my absolute favorites. Since we plan on spending most of the summer exploring Colorado, perhaps our paths will cross again (I promise Al and I won’t be in the emotional funk we were in back at Gilbert Ray…we were a tad stressed…LOL).
I’m not sure how you’ll top 2013, but I’m sure you’ll have fun trying. Here’s to new adventures in 2014!

About The Watsons

This is the story of Tim & Amanda. Since 2012, we have traveled the U.S. while living and working from our renovated 25-foot Airstream. Follow us on our crazy journey in search of beautiful scenery, fun adventures, interesting people, tasty foods, and more…